It was back in June (is that all? feels like longer) that MRI announced that a Hershey's Chocolate World would be a major component of the new plaza, The Park, that's currently being built around and connecting New York-New York and the Monte Carlo. As we wrote back then under the leader "Chocolate Wars," if the finished edifice closely resembles the artist's renditions, it will feature an 18-foot-high Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and a giant Hershey's bar, not to mention silver-colored entrances shaped like Hershey's Kisses. It looks like it will be giving M&M's World across the street a run for its money. The images reproduced are just conceptual design renderings, so don't hold us to them, but they should give a pretty good idea of what the finished thing might look like.
Back then, the vague opening date was "later this winter" but we hadn't heard anything more since, so we dropped a line to the PR department. We heard back by return that, "You haven’t missed anything. There are upcoming announcements being planned, but not any for this month," then, with a little extra prodding, the answer was forthcoming that, "Work at the site is well underway to transform the east façade of New York-New York" and that "the new Hershey’s venue is scheduled for opening in Spring 2014."
The new retail attraction will technically be part of New York-New York (of course, the real city already had its own HCW located on Times Square), but will have its own entrance onto the Strip. It promises to be "interactive," although the press releases to date have not elaborated on what that means exactly, aside from candy-sampling (and there's nothing wrong with that, obviously).
So, there you have it. Just a tad later than hoped -- and not in time for Halloween, sadly -- but pretty much on track.
